Istanbul Thinks It's Too Cool For Allen Iverson

Turkish basketball club Besiktas signed
former Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson to a two-year, $4 million
contract earlier this month, partly because A.I. was no longer good
enough to play
in the NBA, but also because they saw him as the kind of American
superstar who, based on sheer name recognition alone, patrons in
Istanbul would show up to see play.

If Iverson's first week with
the team is any indication, hoops fans in the cradle of civilization
are more discerning than Beskitas management gives them credit for. Kate
Fagan, covering Iverson's stint in Turkey adventure for The
Philadelphia Inquirer, says it plainly:

Iverson is not a
sensation here, but rather an exciting curiosity for small pockets of
basketball fans, playing for a club that doesn't even compete in
Euroleague, Europe's most prestigious.

The 76ers' former
all-everything guard is broke - by all accounts except his own - and
playing here in Istanbul for a number of reasons, none of which is to
become an ambassador for Turkey's solid, but often overlooked,
professional league.

Whatever Iverson's motives for coming to Turkey, they don't seem to
bother the people paying his $2 million salary, nor does Fagan's withering assessment that, in a town of approximately 13 million, "thousands care
that Iverson is here - maybe one in every few thousand." She explains further:

The
folks working for Besiktas believe Iverson is happy, which makes them
happy. They don't want to hear about the past, about poor performances
and injuries and distractions and eventual implosion.

Even if you
try to tell them, they just shrug, believing that this time is
different, that Iverson is changing if not changed.

Iverson's
Turkish journey is only a few weeks old, and those paying close
attention, a slim percentage of this wonderful city, are charmed by all
of Iverson's charming ways.

Considering Iverson's new club plays
its games in 3,200 seat Akatlar Arena, that slim percentage could
perhaps more accurately be described as anorexic.